5 major disappointments from the Commanders' loss vs. Cowboys in Week 18

Cornelius Lucas - Commanders OT

I recently mentioned that Cornelius Lucas was doing a very respectable job filling in for starting left tackle Charles Leno Jr. over the past few weeks. I even went so far as to say that he might be able to be a short-term stopgap on the blindside if the Washington Commanders did not want to grab one of the premier prospects in the upcoming draft.

On the first drive against the Dallas Cowboys, Washington faced its second fourth down at the opposition's 31-yard line. They had just converted a 4th-and-1 a few plays earlier, and they had a nice screen to Brian Robinson Jr. set up to convert this one.

But Lucas, who is not especially mobile, was slow to get out in front of Robinson. This subsequently allowed linebacker Damone Clark to blow up the play.

That didn’t bother me. Getting out in space is not Lucas’ forte. His strength is pass-blocking. However, in the second half, he was eaten alive by the Cowboys pass rush.

Micah Parsons beat him. No shame there. Dorance Armstrong beat him. Well, he is okay. Sam Williams beat him, who is a backup. He’s a good backup, but he’s still a backup. Then again, so is Lucas.

Maybe he’s not the short-term answer I thought he could be. Back to the drawing board on that one.